3 min readMumbaiMay 6, 2025 07:13 PM IST
First published on: May 6, 2025 at 07:13 PM IST
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police has come across various financial irregularities as part of its preliminary inquiry into the alleged Mithi river desilting scam, including an instance where sludge was falsely shown as having been dumped, on paper, by using the name of a land owner who died 20 years ago.
The EOW’s special investigation team (SIT) said on Tuesday that they have registered the first FIR in the Mithi River desilting scam and booked 13 people, including three Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials.
According to the EOW, the SIT came across glaring financial irregularities pertaining to contracts of Mithi river desilting works between 2021-22 and 2022-23.
As per the EOW, during this period, officials of the BMC’s Rainfall and Watercourses (Pajwa) Department accepted the bogus documents of the land where the nullah silt was supposed to be dumped and allowed the work to continue without due verification.
The EWO also allegedly found that nine fake memoranda of understanding (MoUs) were submitted by the contractors. Some MoUs were signed by someone else on behalf of the contractor, while others were not signed by the contractor at all. Some MoUs did not have dates, the EOW found.
When the landowners were questioned about the documents, they stated in their response that they had not signed any such MoU, or they did not sign the MoU, or that no silt was dumped on their land, the EOW said.
During the preliminary investigation, the EOW verified nine MoUs and allegedly found that five contractors – Acute Designs, Kailash Construction Company, N A Construction, Nikhil Construction Company, and J R S Infrastructure – submitted fake MoUs of dumping sites to the BMC’s Pajawa department.
It was the responsibility of the executive engineer of the BMC to verify the MoUs and documents. However, the EOW investigation allegedly found that no one verified these bogus documents, in collusion with the contractors, to ensure that they would not lose the tenders.
Since it was proven that no sludge was dumped at the dumping sites, the Pajwa Department paid a total of Rs 45.50 crore to the above contractors between 2013 and 2021, falsely claiming that the sludge was removed, thereby causing financial loss to the BMC, helping the contractors take disadvantage for wrongful gains, according to the EOW.
“Some contracts do not have proper signatures; some have bogus signatures; in some cases, signatures of owners of (sludge dumping) lands are missing; and in some cases, land owners do not know that their lands’ identities are being misused for bogus contracts and MoUs. In one instance, to fictitiously show sludge dumping on documents, the accused used names of a land owner who died 20 years ago,” said Sangramsinh Nishandar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (EOW).
EOW SIT Inspector Bilal Shaikh is the complainant in the case. On Tuesday, searches were carried out at seven places, including at the residences of BMC officials and contractors.
EOW officials said that more FIRs are likely in the case in the future. The EOW is also likely to issue notices to the accused for questioning, sources said.
According to the EOW, the SIT came across glaring financial irregularities pertaining to contracts of Mithi river desilting works between 2021-22 and 2022-23. 
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